San Diego's Highest Paid Executives

Only executives of publicly traded companies, whose compensation is reported on the proxy statement, are included below. There are San Diegans who run private companies and make tens of millions every year -- for example, John Moores of the Padres or David Copley of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Their compensation is not covered by the Securities and Exchange Commission's rules.

I. AMN Healthcare Services

Steve C. Francis

Chairman

Salary $189,000

Stock & option awards $136,000

Other comp $25,000

Total $350,000

Exercised options $52.1 million

Francis is the chairman of the board of AMN Healthcare Services, a health-care staffing company. A cofounder of the company in 1985, 53-year-old Francis was the CEO from 1990 to 2005. In 2005, he was a candidate for mayor of San Diego, losing in the primary election. He is considering a run for mayor again in 2008.

Throughout 2006, Francis cashed in his options, exercising them in batches of 50,000 and selling them the same day. The company notes that 2006 was the first year that Francis exercised stock options.

He was also awarded 5555 restricted stock units (RSUs) and 4445 stock appreciation rights (SARs); the fair value of these awards was $36,000. Francis owns 216,922 shares, which on September 21, 2007, were worth $4.1 million.

Susan R. Nowakowski

CEO

Salary $550,000

Bonus $605,000

Stock & option

awards $1.3 million

Other comp $29,000

Total $2.5 million

Exercised options $7 million

Nowakowski, 43, owns 300 shares, which on September 21 were worth $5652. She also owns 55,000 units of stock awards that have not vested, worth, according to the proxy, $1,514,700, as well as 289,405 exercisable options and 303,250 options that are not yet exercisable. Other compensation consists of "matching contributions to the Company's Executive Non-Qualified Excess Plan, the Company's 401(k) Plan and life insurance premiums." AMN Healthcare Services "generally does not provide its named executive officers with perquisites."

II. Qualcomm

Paul E. Jacobs

CEO, director

Salary $1 million

Bonus $1.7 million

Stock & option

awards $24.9 million

Other comp $141,000

Total $27.7 million

Exercised options $15.8 million

Paul Jacobs, 45, is the son of Qualcomm cofounder and chairman of the board Irwin M. Jacobs. Qualcomm makes wireless telecommunications products and services.

In 2006, Jacobs was granted 900,000 stock options at the grant price of $44.02. If the stock price grows 5 percent per year over ten years, according to the proxy statement, he will realize $24.9 million.

Jacobs owns 1,559,615 shares, some held in trusts, worth $63.7 million on September 21.

The son's stock is small potatoes compared to his father's stock wealth. Irwin Jacobs owns 26,904,101 shares, some held in trusts. The shares on September 21 were worth $1.1 billion. This year, dividend payments on those shares totaled $14.5 million.

Like most companies, Qualcomm has a voluntary deferred compensation plan: executives can defer 100 percent of their income "on a pretax basis." They stow their income in an account where it will go untaxed until they retire or choose to use it.

Steven R. Altman

President

Salary $749,000

Bonus $1.1 million

Stock & option

awards $17.2 million

Other comp $116,000

Total $19.2 million

Exercised options $10.8 million

Altman's 179,288 shares were valued at $7.3 million on September 21. In 2006 he was granted 620,000 stock options at the issue price of $44.02. With the stock price rising 5 percent over ten years, the value of his stock options will grow to $17.2 million.

Sanjay K. Jha

COO

Salary $688,000

Bonus $1 million

Stock & option

awards $15.6 million

Other comp $107,000

Total $17.4 million

Exercised options $8.4 million

Jha, who is chief operating officer and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, owns 23,891 shares, which on September 21 were worth $975,000. In 2006, Jha was granted 565,000 stock options. Over ten years, with the stock price growing 5 percent a year, he will make $15.6 million.

On September 4, Jha exercised the option to buy 7500 shares, paying a grant price of $16.11 per share. The price of the stock that day for everyone else ranged from $39.44 to $40.23. When Jha sold the shares, his one-day profit was $178,875.

Roberto Padovani

Executive vice president

Salary $459,000

Bonus $325,000

Stock & option awards $8.3 million

Other comp $61,000

Total $9.1 million

Exercised options $9.3 million

Padovani is executive vice president and chief technology officer at Qualcomm. In 2006, he was granted 300,000 stock options. If the stock price grows 5 percent per year over ten years, he will realize $8.3 million.

William E. Keitel

CFO

Salary $577,000

Bonus $710,000

Stock & option

awards $13.1 million

Other comp $84,000

Total $14.5 million

Exercised options $6.5 million

Keitel, executive vice president and chief financial officer, owns 5794 shares, which on September 21 were worth $237,000. In 2006, he was granted 475,000 stock options. At a 5 percent rise per year over ten years, the value of his stock options will be $13.1 million.

III. Sempra Energy

Donald E. Felsinger

Chairman, CEO

Salary $943,000

Bonus $1.9 million

Stock & option

awards $4.4 million

Change in pension

value $1.9 million

Other comp $404,000

Total $9.5 million

Exercised options $4.2 million

Sempra Energy is an energy services company, which owns San Diego Gas & Electric. Felsinger owns 481,166 shares, valued at $28.8 million on September 21. During his 35 years with the company, his pension benefits have grown to $16.5 million. Felsinger has also participated in a deferred compensation plan, which earned 6.3 percent interest in 2006. His plan's aggregate balance on December 31, 2006, was $14.5 million.

Felsinger's "other compensation" includes medical, disability, life and personal liability insurance premiums; car allowances, mileage reimbursement, and the hourly rate of drivers; as well as event gifts, mementos, and residential security alarm services. The lion's share of Felsinger's perk payout was a tax gross-up, a reimbursement for the taxes he paid on the rest of his "other compensation."

If Sempra were to fire Felsinger -- other than for cause (gross negligence on the job, moral turpitude, or significant acts of dishonesty) -- he would receive the sum of his annual base salary and a bonus; his incentive-based awards would immediately vest and become exercisable; his health insurance would continue for two years; he would receive free financial planning and outplacement services; he would get two years of service credit added to his pension; and, as long as he divulged nothing confidential about Sempra, he would receive another year's worth of insurance and medical benefits along with a lump-sum payout equal to his salary and bonus.

Comments

I recently read where Mr. Robert Akins was nominated to SEMI International Board of Directors and also nominated for Director of the Year 2008. Has anyone done a thorough investigation of Robert P. Akins' background? As of several investigative news articles in 10News, San Diego, this individual has posed with a double identity, posing as a Mexican national, Roberto Felipe Akins, with a Mexican birth certificate. He is being investigated in Mexico for posing as a double citizen when transacting contracts, just like his cousin, Stevan Charles Pedroarena, who most recently pleaded guilty in San Diego for bankruptcy fraud and tax evasion.

Now would be the time to consider this nominee, rather than when his cousin's sentencing comes through in September, and hits the news. It is presumed by those in Mr. Akins' inner circle and those in charge of the FBI case, that he is helping pay the fines that Mr. Pedroarena must present to the courts so that a plea bargain could be struck rather than it go to full trial, whereby it would be revealed that he (Mr. Akins, and his family not only posed as Mexican citizens and committed fraud, but also committed Medical Fraud in question of his paternal grandmother's vast Mexican landholdings in Mexico by the name of Rancho San Valentin (google this), which were never declared under U.S. law.)